Friday, June 13, 2014

Mutual of Omaha Presents......

Two or three weeks ago, Davis went to change the light bulb in our garage door and when he got up on the ladder, he saw that a wren had built a nest there and it was full of eggs. He postponed the light bulb business so to not disturb them and we've been watching the progression of the beautiful, natural process.

Finally, one day, we could hear the chirping of little baby birdies and we were so excited. We'd see the Mama bird fly out and come back with food for the babies. So sweet. We'd even leave our garage door open while we were gone during the day, so she could go back and forth as needed. Yesterday, we noticed the babies attempting to fly out of the nest, but would, then, get stranded on the garage floor because of their poorly developed aviation skills. A time or two, we've gingerly placed them back in their nest. So enjoyable to watch the unfolding wonders of nature.

Enjoyable, that is, until we witnessed nature's more sinister side. With baby birds falling out of their nest, our dog, Sugar, (not sure the name fits now) decided that a garage floor full of baby birds spelled "BUFFET". Blair and I weren't home, Carson was at a friend's house, and Davis was inside working.....and Sugar, well, she was outside eating baby birds. Carson came home to the ghastly scene and found her in the garage, next to Mount St. Shoes, satisfying her barbaric appetite. She growled at him as he got closer, for fear that he, too, had a craving for baby birds and was out to take hers.

We were all devastated. It kind of felt like when you were six and watching Mutual of Omaha's Animal Kingdom and Marlin Perkins would show the alligator take down the cute wildebeest weakling as her family crossed the river. You'd wince and scream, "No, No NO....you, bad alligator meany!" That's how it was when we saw Sugar with the young, fuzzy feathers stuck to her snout. We're usually not offended by the slaughtering of her favorite prey, the lizards, but baby birds, Sugar??

I tried to remind everyone that Sugar was just doing what dogs do and that we shouldn't be mad with her. It was hard though as she laid around with her belly bulging looking drowsy from her big meal. I don't think the birds sat well on her stomach, because she appeared to be feeling sick. Maybe it was from the guilt. Maybe it was from the kids' remarks of disappointment sent in her direction. Every time they passed her dog bed, they'd sneer, "Sugar, I can't believe you did that"! She appeared unmoved and would just moan and roll over onto her protruding belly.

It may just be my imagination, but the birds seem to be chirping louder than usual today. No matter what room I'm in, there are birds outside the window really belting out the tweets. It sounds very Alfred Hitchcock-y out there. I think they have the house surrounded.....just waiting on Sugar to come out so they can exact their revenge.

That is sad. Poor baby birds. Here is my Mutual of Omaha story - my dog (when she was much younger) decided to chase and catch a squirrel. Proceeded to eat the squirrel, came inside, decided it wasn't agreeing with her, and yes right in front of my bathroom door (and we still had carpeting) there was the gray remains of the squirrel. Was anyone else home besides me? of course not. Needless to say, I gagged and got the squirrel outside in a trash bag. Thank you God she has never done that again.

Oh no!! Not a happy ending.Years ago I was mowing our lawn and Sam my dog picked something up in her mouth and ran to the corner of the yard. I told her to drop it and when she did a little baby bird dropped out. I think she was getting it out of the way from the lawn mower. I just put it over the fence and it hopped away.

we have a wall fountain out on the patio and every year birds build a nest there...i can see mama bird every morning out my bathroom window bringing food to her babies and sensing me watching...even from the other side of the window! she chirps (and fusses) all the time...yesterday evening we were sitting outside and so many birds were flying around and making noise...i'm sure they felt threatened by our presence. the husband looked inside the fountain but didn't see the babies...the nest is on the other side and way down deep but i'm curious as to what stage they are at by now.

i would say shame on sugar but you're right, she's just doing what comes naturally.

Oh my goodness!! Crazy, Sugar! But I have to say remembering Wild Kingdom has been a blast today! Even inspired my husband to pull up some You Tube clips of the show and force my daughter to watch them. It was of Marlin Perkins in his office (did he EVER leave or was it ALWAYS the younger guy out in the bush?!) with a monkey CHAINED to his desk (no lie) shoving 1 million berries into its mouth. This monkey had huge cheek capacity! Thanks for the laughs!! And hope Sugar didn't get attacked by birds today!

Hahahaha.......I'm sure your daughter just loved that! Wasn't the younger guy, Jim Fowler......who still brings animals on the late night talk shows sometimes? They don't make shows like that anymore :)

I promise on everything that I love while first reading this you brought up a memory of the same scenario we had at our home with babies and nests....THEN the awful reminded that our Yorkie killed them came quickly which made me snicker as I finished your blog...po po birdies...

My mom loves the birds and has multiple feeders and bird houses. We've watched several nests of babies this year on our frequent visits to Mom's. We haven't seen any babies leaving the nest though! Poor Sugar, she didn't mean to do anything wrong!